en général

\ɑ̃ ʒe.ne.ʁal\

/\ɑ̃ ʒe.ne.ʁal\/ adv

The verdict

“en général” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dans ses différents aspects, dans sa globalité.

Corpus desk

Index FR-en-general · en général · French

en général · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "E" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for en général
PropertyValue
Headworden général
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\ɑ̃ ʒe.ne.ʁal\
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « en général » en français

en généraln'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

en général is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃ ʒe.ne.ʁal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for en général in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is en général, spelled E-N- -G-É-N-É-R-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dans ses différents aspects, dans sa globalité.
  2. 2
    Ordinairement, communément, généralement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how en général appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Il faut aborder le problème en général et s’occuper ensuite des menus détails.
  2. En France, c’est en général au mois de juillet que la température est la plus chaude.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "en général"?
"en général" is spelled E-N- -G-É-N-É-R-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃ ʒe.ne.ʁal\.
What does "en général" mean?
As an adverb, "en général" means: Dans ses différents aspects, dans sa globalité.
How do you pronounce "en général"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "en général" is \ɑ̃ ʒe.ne.ʁal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "en général" come from?
"en général" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list